The example presented here concerns the audit of a typical, medium-size, office building erected in Brussels at the end of the sixties. This building is equipped with a classical “old fashion” air ... [more ▼]

The example presented here concerns the audit of a typical, medium-size, office building erected in Brussels at the end of the sixties. This building is equipped with a classical “old fashion” air conditioning system with induction units. An audit procedure is developed and tested “in way”. It consists in a systematic analysis of all information available, with help of very simple calculation. Not all the orders of magnitudes of the fuel and mostly of the electricity consumption can be interpreted, but very significant energy saving opportunities are already discovered. [less ▲]

When testing the fire resistance of metal sandwich panels, the annex B of EN 15254-5 gives rules for the consequently allowed extension of span length. The processing of these rules requires that specific ... [more ▼]

When testing the fire resistance of metal sandwich panels, the annex B of EN 15254-5 gives rules for the consequently allowed extension of span length. The processing of these rules requires that specific measurements are carried out on joints between panels during the test. When a set of tests has been realised on panels of different thicknesses, but no measurement has been carried out on joints during these tests, the relevance of the following processing is analysed : 1. redo only the tests on panels of minimum and maximum thicknesses and carry out the measurement on joints ; 2. deduce the extended height allowed for these tests ; 3. interpolate these results to panels of intermediate thicknesses. [less ▲]

Galleries excavation leads to damage and significant properties changes of the host rock. The fracture structure of the excavation damaged zone created around the galleries remains nowadays a major issue ... [more ▼]

Galleries excavation leads to damage and significant properties changes of the host rock. The fracture structure of the excavation damaged zone created around the galleries remains nowadays a major issue especially in the context of underground storage. In order to correctly model the strain localisation, the second gradient local model (regularization method) is used within a hydro-mechanical modelling of a gallery excavation. The numerical results provide information about the strain localisation bands pattern. [less ▲]

The drilling of galleries induces damage propagation in the surrounding medium and creates the Excavation Damaged Zone (EDZ) in which the material properties are modified. The prediction of the fracture ... [more ▼]

The drilling of galleries induces damage propagation in the surrounding medium and creates the Excavation Damaged Zone (EDZ) in which the material properties are modified. The prediction of the fracture structure and flow properties evolution within this zone are major issues especially in the context of underground nuclear waste storage. Since experimental results indicate that shear strain localisation appears prior to fractures, we model the EDZ with strain localisation in shear band mode using the coupled local second gradient model. The evolution of the intrinsic hydraulic permeability inside the fractures is taken into consideration as well as the influence of gallery ventilation on the rock desaturation. The numerical results provide information about the damaged zone extension, structure and behaviour with good correspondence to in situ measurements and observations. [less ▲]